taking the stage

i do some open-mic comedy every so often, like tonight. i arrived during the workshop, and started writing out jokes i wanted to do. no problem finding material when i write it down in a little notebook i keep in my denim jacket. after writing down 9 items, i settled on 5. i ended with how online dating not going well, which is a joke that gets laughs since it's relatable.
  didn't do quite as much emerson hough research today, as i wanted to get a look at the newton football newsletter. it had been mailed to me for a while, since i was an equipment manager, but it is now online. this was my first time looking at it since it moved online. almost had forgot about it, but then my dad reminded me- when this emerson hough ordeal began- how they once played football at the school. so eventually it led me to finding the newsletters to see what was in it. only needed to look at the last 2 editions, they only publish about 2-3 times a year, most recent edition was in january. i noticed the name of a classmate on the first page of this edition. he has an article about starting a website about the football team. i saw the team photo from when we went to the state finals, i was a junior. i am in the back row. there is an article about the history of football, it says it is the first of several articles about it. no mention was made of walter camp, called 'the father of american football', hopefully a later article does cover him. i went to a yale football game in 2004, they lost to lehigh, and there were a few pages in the program about walter camp, since he was a coach at yale. i can find out if i can write the article, might as well ask, it's worth a try. there is mention of the scholarship fund as well, i can inquire about this as the game- and what i learned from it when on the team- still means plenty to me. i had a football helmet on my class ring, even though i never put on a helmet, to remind me of my time on the team. i gave to the memorial fund for ed thomas, the coach from aplington-parkersburg, for this reason. i said that as an iowan- and as a member of my school's football team- it meant something to me.
    the next thing i have is the newton football schedule, but i haven't been to a game since 2007, the game played a day after the maytag plant closed. i got pictures of the boots and shoes left behind by the workers, and the homemade sign that looked like a tombstone. 'rip maytag, best appliances, and people, in the world'. 'i love you all, best wishes'. last year i went to an a-p game, tough to know what to do this year. i hate how i am already thinking about football travels, when it is only june and my favorite sport is baseball.
    i did find an article about buster keaton and captain dynamite johnny o'brien, from the u. of washington. but it is hard to find anything about o'brien himself, no wikipedia page, and still trying to find where hough wrote about him.
   next one is about the field of dreams, i was prompted to find it when i read an article in the paper suggesting to see it before it is sold. it is for sale now, and i did see it once before- in 1990, with my dad. it was a year after it was at theaters. it was where i learned that james earl jones was the voice of darth vader in 'star wars'. there was a sign next to the field, and it spoke of the roles the actors had before it.
   i started thinking about what weekend i could see it, and wondered if maybe i could shoehorn it into my upcoming weekend, where i go to the college world series in omaha. need to find out what teams are playing, the super regionals were held this weekend. i like baseball a lot, so i will try to find a way. the logistics may be a little tricky, and it means some added driving of course.
    i have spoken of lady gaga already, and i keep watching the youtube video of her song 'alejandro'. it is a catchy song. i saw some online photos of lady gaga, at a mets-padres baseball game. some were shocked at how she was scantily clad, i say let her wear what she wants as long as it's legal. much like with eminem, i eventually liked her music after listening to it, deciding to make up my own mind instead of letting others do it for me, like the media.
    it likely will be a full weekend, but a fun one and a rewarding one. i am not only interested in doing more emerson hough research in person, but also got the idea of finding the maytag mansion- now the administration building for the schools- and going swimming at maytag pool, a place i got swimming lessons as a youngster. i took both for granted when living there, and had a hard time even knowing where the mansion was, so it means pictures of both. we must not forget our origins, our roots. like it or not, it is still a part of who we are, and always will be on some level.